Michael Shinn

Michael Shinn joined Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2017 as dean of music. In this capacity, he oversees Music Division faculty, students, and curriculum development.

Michael’s diverse career in music reflects his deep passion for performance, education, entrepreneurship, and innovation in the arts. Prior to this appointment, Michael was chair of keyboard studies at The Juilliard School, where he taught piano, chamber music, piano pedagogy, and keyboard skills for both pianists and conductors. He also served as senior advisor for educational and artistic programs at Juilliard Global Ventures, where he was the professor for Juilliard’s first online course, Juilliard Piano Class: Sharpen Your Artistry.

Based on the belief that musicians must successfully communicate through spoken word in addition to performance, Michael launched the Speaking from the Stage initiative at Juilliard, which prepares—and requires—students to speak to their audiences at their graduation recitals. As a spokesperson for the arts, Michael has presented about the future of arts education and the role of the arts in society at SXSW EDU and the Pebble Beach Authors and Ideas Festival.

Michael has designed innovative lectures and courses on a variety of subjects, focusing largely on his specialty, the music of Franz Liszt. In 2011, he was the artistic director of the Liszt Festival at Juilliard, a series of lecture-recitals celebrating the composer’s bicentennial.

Michael and his wife, Jessica, founded and direct the pianoSonoma Music Festival, a unique festival that brings together artists in residence and adult musicians of all backgrounds to collaborate and perform in Sonoma County, California. As duo pianists and Yamaha Artists, they regularly perform throughout the United States.